It’s time we all took our heads out of the sand. As most of us have known for a long time, the meat industry does not stand up to the rigid standards it is supposed to, and there are loopholes in those standards.
The Humane Society has been documenting abuse of laws and abuse of animals for a long time, but the community, as a whole, isn’t speaking out enough to make things change. Just this month the Humane Society released another video documenting the horrific abuse of downer cattle at auction and at the processing plant.
This is the same meat that is being fed to schoolchildren in lunch programs. Processing these downer cattle is a huge health risk to our food supply, and the methods of getting these animals to slaughter are appalling. We can’t close our eyes and cover our ears because seeing and hearing about this abuse is upsetting. Get upset! Write your secretary of agriculture, your representatives, your governor.
Boycott businesses that implement these inhumane and unhealthy practices. Don’t wait until more animals are brutalized and schoolchildren end up sick from eating poor meat.
This article appears in Jul 3-10, 2008.
